woman sentenced to 8 years for 38-week home abortion

[WokingOnSunshine]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19621675
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204471/Mother-Sarah-Catt-terminated-baby-week-date-using-medication.html

It's almost lie she couldn't be bothered with the inconvenience. Somehow doing it this way was less of a hassle than arranging something through the proper channels.

Or she didn't want everyone to know as the baby wasn't her husband's? I don't know what to make of it all, she seems incredibly disturbed and almost delusional. I am 100% prochoice and would advocate for her right to have as many legal abortions as she likes, but this whole thing just reads like the plot of one of those grim horror/crime drama programmes. I just can't get my head around the idea that she could try and induce an abortion at that stage, I think my view is coloured because I had DS at 37 weeks.

easilybored why do you think she seems almost delusional? Not having a go, just interested.

easilybored but her husband now knows she was having an affair, that the baby may not have been his, and is standing by her..

She admitted to burying the body but still wont reveal where.. if the baby really was stillborn she has nothing left to hide, all she has to do is reveal where the body is to prove it was stillborn & that she didnt kill it.. but she wont do that. Why would anybody who stands accused something as horrific as killing their own child choose not to clear their name?

shesariver I was just about to ask that too...would be very interested to know what is meant by that. I don't think she was delusional at all, she knew exactly what she was doing from what I can make of this account.

She should be jailed until she tells were the baby is if she did not kill after it was born alive then whats the issue

Um and her oh is standing by her one word

FOOL

Exactly Fishwife, exactly!

Cory I do not think late term abortions should be allowed for disabled children either.

Just the way she seemed to think it was nothing, that she could just pretend it wasnt happening to her. I'm not a Dr though, so what do I know anyway?

I have a hard time beleiving that someone in their right mind could behave like this. But I guess some people are horrible.

As I said, the whole thing leaves me very confused, I just cant imagine what she thought was going to happen.

Pretending something hasnt happened though is not a delusion - if you are pretending you are well aware of what has happened. Delusions are false beliefs that are usually part of a psychotic type illness or experience.

As to what she thought would happen, who knows? She had it planned going by the reports, probably thought she could get away with it and her husband would be none the wiser. Some people go to extraordinary lengths to preserve relationships and banish feelings of abandonment.

She knew exactly what she was doing.
She has done a major cover-up to stop her husband finding out the child wasn't his so she needed to work quickly whilst her dh was away to give birth & dispose/kill the baby!
What she did was done by serious thorough planning of trawling through the internet to find the drugs needed to induce labour. Them drugs would have took time to come in the post-time inwhich she had to change her mind inwhich she didn't.

She will not give details of where the body is and the only reason i can think of is to conceal the fact she killed him.
If there was any chance he was stillborn im sure she would want to clear her name but by keeping police in the dark she is only showing that she did indeed kill him.

She did have options, adoption being one of them or leaving him in a safe place. She chose not to, that to me speaks volumes -the woman is pure evil and only cared about her husband finding out about her illicit sex.

Im pro-choice, i believe it is a womans right to choose up to 12weeks of pregnancy whether to have an abortion or up to 24 weeks for severe unliveable abnormalities or danger to the mother but anything after that absolutely not unless there is threat of death to mum and baby!
This was a 38 week healthy pregnancy but she chose to put her infidelity before her own living breathing, flesh & blood.
That baby would have suffered and all at the hands of his own mother.

This should have 'abortion' in the title it should have 'murder' instead.
The woman deserves all she gets and more.

What pumpkin said.

she should have got 20+ years.

this is why I'm pro-life AND PRO-FAMILY
(which means no mucking around outside marriage)

yeah, extro, because this case is so relevant to the thousands of women who have legal and safe abortions within the time limits every year...

No Hope just real mums that are horrified by what this woman has done!!!

"Have we been infiltrated by DM commentators?"

Doubt it; DM is easily the most linked newspaper on MN. It's not an invasion, it's the indigenous population.

This might explain why the sentence was so severe...

No 'mucking about'

Do you mean sexual intercourse?

You do realise that it is not against the law to have sex outside of marriage and that many happy, long term relationships are achieved without the need of a civil or religious ceremony

And what edam said.

I don't think exam's link provides an "explanation" as none is needed. The sentence was within guidelines and the case had the additional feature of the concealment of the body.

obviously "real" mums (as opposed to my little pony mums?) are horrified by this. we will never know the full truth of the matter and as intresting as it is for us to comment or judge, the sentence has been given by those who are society deems fit to judge these things. i thought mucking around involved putting on fake moustaches and singing karaoke which i do with and apart from my husband. let's not use this thread as a soapbox for intolerant extremism.

actually the judge did ignore a relevant recent case where the sentence was far less harsh. His personal beliefs clearly influenced sentencing - he criticized legal abortions, which is none of of his business and entirely irrelevant. He said the crime was between murder and manslaughter, which is equally irrelevant as there was no charge of either, no evidence of either, and no proof that the foetus was born alive. The only facts are that she was pregnant, then was no longer pregnant, and admits administering a drug to induce labour. The judge's behaviour was plain wrong - he openly admitted flouting the only precedent available, he openly admitted his personal prejudice against legal abortion.

It is a horrifying case, but judges have to apply the law, not wield their personal prejudice.

I have looked at the other thread and I hope it doesn't disintegrate. I appreciate the links to case law and previous cases.
I hate the hysterical reactions to this awful case.
They prevent decent discussion.
Frankly they get on my nerves.

Mucking about outside marriage, real mums?

What exactly does that add to a very important discussion that touches on women's rights, the rights of the unborn child, disabilist abortion laws, mental health and a whole heap of other things?

It's just annoying. Like a fly buzzing around your head.

I really dont think the word "abortion" screaming out of all the headlines helps, I really fail to see how inducing the birth of a full term baby is an abortion.